11 August 2012

Challenge Day #3: YELLOW nails

Hello lovelies! Happy Friday :)

Today's challenge is yellow nails. When I think of yellow I always want to do the bumblebee nails... but everybody and their sister does that. Daffodils? Eh... easier with acrylic paints and I typically don't use those on nail art for myself. I was a bit uninspired until I remembered that I'd always wanted to do half-moon nails, but with sunshines! (Half-suns?) So I went for it... the process was interesting and it didn't turn out quite the way I'd imagined, but I still really like it!

I wanted a yellow gradient, so I started using the Nailasaurus' famous gradient technique using 3 Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear colours: White On, Mellow Yellow, and the orange is Sun Kissed. I wanted some subtle but yellowy-golden shimmer, so I added a coat of Essie Good As Gold over it. I love that it's dense enough with tiny golden flakies and barely-there shimmer to be noticable, but the base is not tinted, and the white still looks white. At this point, my nails looked like this:

Terrible picture, but it's the best one I could get.

Check out the Nailasaurus at the link above, she's got mad gradient skills.

Then, I cut out little sun-shaped half-moons out of an old AAA sticker I found laying around. This bit was painstaking, but it was a slow day in the office (if any of my coworkers are reading this, um, just kidding?) and I got all ten done throughout the course of the day. I didn't think to get a photo of them until I was nearly finished, but here is what they looked like--9 used, one still waiting to be applied to my nail:

Then, I painted a careful coat of Revlon Colorstay in 170-Coastal Surf over the areas that were still exposed. Can I just say how awesome this polish was for this design? Perfectly opaque in one coat, dried quickly after I'd removed the sticker, and the perfect sky-blue to be a backdrop for the suns. So pretty! Lastly, a medium-thick coat of good ol' Seche Vite for quick-drying, shine, and protection. Like I said before, it didn't turn out quite the way I had envisioned, but I love it anyway:

Suns shining in the sunshine. Aww.

What do you think of this sunny yellow design? At first I had the vague idea that it reminded me of something, but I couldn't think of what it was. After a day of wearing them and staring at them, it hit me. Good ol' Sunny D. Or Sunny Delight, as we called it back in my day.

Hi! Please share your thoughts below. I love seeing what others have to say, and I read every single comment! Relevant links (such as recreations or similar manis) are welcome; however, spam or advertising will be deleted.

What you lookin' at?

Hello, I'm Amanda! Welcome to my blog. I love art and painting, and nail colour/design has always been a passion of mine! I'm not a professional, just an enthusiastic hobbyist. By trade, I'm a full-time nerd-for-hire ("the IT guy", if you will). I also spend a lot of time playing Xbox, dancing, and drinking beer. Those things are all fun, but doing them with fabulous blingy nails makes it even better! xoxo